


The Power of First Impressions

by MYuzuki



Series: We Don’t Become Heroes Overnight (A Nerevar drabble series) [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Altmer - Freeform, Chimer, Developing Friendships, Dwemer - Freeform, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Nerevar the mercenary, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, between the various races of elves mostly, era-typical racial tensions, fyi the blurb is kind of inaccurate sorry, pre-Hortator Nerevar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 05:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: Nerevar is a mercenary who has yet to meet a Dwemer that he likes. Then he meets a Dwemer prince named Dumac, and finds himself re-evaluating his opinion of them.





	The Power of First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> So...this drabble was originally supposed to be entirely Nerevar and Dumac but somehow I got sidetracked by the set-up and Dumac only showed up at the end? Idk. Basically it's a small but critical event where Nerevar's perception of the Dwemer in general starts to change because of Dumac; there will be more interaction between the two in future drabbles, I promise.

" **Change your thoughts and you'll change your world."**

* * *

 

Nerevar likes to think of himself as a fairly reasonable individual, all things considered. He charges a fair rate for his services (which is more than he can say for some other mercenaries out there), he tries to avoid jumping into situations that he knows nothing about, and he does his very best to listen to what people have to say with an open mind.

That being said, if someone had told him upfront that this particular job involved Dwemer, he would have told them where to stuff the bag of gemstones that they were offering him in payment.

And it wasn't even that he disliked the Dwemer on general principle, like so many of his Chimer kinsmen. No, his objection to freelance work involving the Dwemer is based entirely on his own experiences thus far, thank you very much.

Since some of those experiences have involved explosions, assassination attempts, unsettling metal constructs that moved on their own, and arrogant Dwemer researchers belittling his faith and battle prowess even as they hired him for protection, he feels entirely justified in his wariness of the race as a whole; he has yet to meet a Dwemer he could actually stand to speak to for more than a handful of moments at a time. And that's not even factoring in the intermittent skirmishes that break out between their respective nations because of their clashing world views.

Therefore, when the Altmer mage who's hired him for protection suddenly says that they need to stop off at a nearby Dwemer outpost rather than going straight to their destination, Nerevar immediately and without hesitation puts his foot down.

"You did not mention needing to stop at a Dwemer outpost when we discussed the specifics of your journey," he reminds her pointedly, because it's the truth. Mathylwen had said that she was making a trip to some sort of mystical cavern in the north to study the "high levels of ambient magicka in the air" or some such thing; at no point had she said anything about stopping anywhere other than a few small towns along the way, and even that would simply be to re-supply before continuing on their way.

"It slipped my mind," the mage says, blatantly evasive as her golden eyes look anywhere but at him, and Nerevar barely suppresses a heavy sigh; he's unsure whether the evasiveness is because she's a mage, an Altmer, or just a evasive person in general, but in the end it hardly matters.

"How can I protect you when you do not fully disclose your intent to me?" he asks her, putting just enough gentle admonishment into his tone for her to look away, her golden skin darkening as a flush of embarrassment creeks up her cheeks at the chastisement. "I ask for honesty from my clients for a reason, Mathylwen. My job is to keep you safe from harm, and I cannot do that with faulty information."

"All you need to do to keep me safe is swing your sword if we are attacked," Mathylwen says, a hint of defensiveness creeping into her voice. "How much information is needed for that?"

Nerevar sends up a vague prayer to Azura for patience. "Different regions have different threats that must be considered," he tells her. "To get to the Dwemer outpost you want to visit, for example, we must cross through rocky terrain full of ravenous beasts. Had I known you intended to go in that direction," he adds, "I would have brought additional weaponry and more potions. As it is now, we shall simply have to hope that we are not beset upon by hordes of monsters hungry for our flesh."

Mathylwen is pale now, frightened by his words, and Nerevar should perhaps feel poorly about scaring her but he doesn't; she is young and inexperienced, and he's had too many protection jobs go wrong because the clients thought they knew better than the warrior protecting them. If he can drum even just a little more common sense and practicality into this mage woman's head, perhaps it will save her life someday.

"I don't-" She swallows hard. "My apologies, I didn't…think of it that way." She shifts from foot to foot, anxiety bleeding off of her in waves. "There is someone at the Dwemer outpost who I have been corresponding with during the course of my research. He wishes to accompany me on my journey to Nightshine Cavern in order to see the magicka phenomena there for himself."

Nerevar considers this for a moment, mulling it over. "If your contact asked to meet you at a Dwemer outpost, he is likely a Dwemer himself," he remarks.

"The possibility of that has occurred to me," Mathylwen replies, crossing her arms. "But in the letters we exchanged he seemed sincere in his interest in the cavern, so his race is of little importance to me."

"It is important to me," Nerevar says mildly. "My people and the Dwemer are not precisely on friendly terms at the moment, little mage. Something you should have perhaps considered before hiring a Chimer warrior to escort you to a Dwemer outpost."

She gives a short huff. "I may have rushed into this expedition without giving enough thought to some things," she acknowledges with a small nod and a wry, chagrined smile.

"You don't say," Nerevar replies, a thread of amusement slipping through his irritation despite it all. Shaking his head, he starts walking again, gesturing for the mage in fall in behind him as he leads the way toward the Dwemer outpost. "I hope this Dwemer friend of yours is more prepared for this expedition than you are, Mathylwen. What's his name, anyway?"

"I believe he's called Dumac," the mage answers, and Nerevar doesn't give any more thought to the matter until later.

(Later, Nerevar hisses "You failed to mention that your friend i _s a prince_ ," at her and can't help but be vaguely outraged at how  _likeable_  the Dwemer noble is, his keen intellect and sharp curiosity tempered by a warm personality and friendly nature; he is somehow both similar to the Dwemer that Nerevar has met in the past and yet entirely different at the same time.

"I didn't  _know_ ," Mathylwen protests helplessly, eyes wide with shock even as she casts an Invisibility spell to hide all three of them from sight because it turns out that the Dwemer prince is  _sneaking out_  to go to Nightshine Cavern with them; Dumac's father has evidently forbidden his son from traveling to what the Dwemer call 'the surface world' on account of the increased hostilities between the Chimer and Dwemer as well as the more frequent Nord attacks.

What this means, of course, is that now Nerevar has to not only protect Mathylwen and Dumac ( _a prince!_ ) from bandits on the road, but also prevent Dumac from being apprehended by the royal guards who are intent on whisking him away back to their underground kingdom.

If the handsome prince wasn't so earnest and genuine in his excitement to be adventuring without a gaggle of retainers constantly swarming him, Nerevar might have let them.

Instead, he threatens both the Altmer mage and the Dwemer prince with double the rates he'd originally asked for, but ends up waiving the protection fee entirely by the time they finally reach Nightshine Cavern, because he's had far too much fun with the two of them to care about payment.

Lasting friendships are a reward all their own, after all.)


End file.
